Nail Ideas: Watercolor Manicures

When manicurist Alicia Torello showed me a new nail-art design she'd been playing around with, I had to learn how to do it. Lucky for me, Torello invited me to come by her apartment this weekend to try what we'll call the "watercolor/spiderweb" manicure—and to show me how to do it step by-step, so that I could share it with you.

To re-create the exact color scheme of mine (but really, you can do any, and as many, colors as you want), here's what you need: purple, pink, blue, coral, and black nail polishes; nail-polish remover; two or three wedge latex makeup sponges; a plastic cup filled with water; body splash or hair spray; and a concealer or lip brush. You'll also need to set aside some time, because this is a bit of a process, but it's totally worth it!

Step one: Before you get started, prep everything. Have your bottle of remover handy. Fill the cup with water and cut the latex sponges into small square pieces.

Step two: Apply your basecoat as usual. Then comes the "watercolor" layer using the four colorful polishes. You can play around with how many colors you use on each nail and where you apply them. Instead of brushing them on, paint them on with a sponge to give that watercolor-like effect. Using a new small piece of sponge for each finger, paint on the bright colors, using a corner for each color. Torello blobbed the polish on a piece of plastic and dipped the sponge in it, rather than painting the color onto the sponge. When painting, it's okay if you get polish on your fingers—you can clean it up after you've done all ten fingers, using your concealer brush dipped in nail-polish remover. Let this layer dry fully, for about ten minutes.

Step three: Here's where the magic happens. Hold the black polish brush over the cup of water, allowing droplets to fall in. Keep adding drops until a large circle of black forms.

Step four: Spritz your body splash or hair spray (the key ingredient here is alcohol) right at the black cloud of polish in the water. The droplets from the spray will cause the cloud of black polish on the surface of the water to separate and look like a spiderweb.

Step five: Dip your finger into the black cloud of polish that has settled on the surface. Make sure you finger enters the water nail first—meaning you should hold your nail parallel to the water and submerge it. Use an orange stick, spoon, or straw to push the polish in the water away from your finger before lifting it out.

Step six: Repeat for each finger. You'll have the black polish all over your fingers, so you just clean it up afterwards with a cotton ball dipped in remover and use the brush to clean up the cuticles and underneath the nails.